On Mackinac Island, Michigan, no one has started a car engine in over a century

It’s Been This Way Since 1898

Mackinac Island sits in the straits between Michigan’s two peninsulas, and no one has driven a car on it in over 125 years. Horses pull the taxis.

Bikes crowd the roads. And on the eastern shore, a limestone arch rises nearly 15 stories above Lake Huron like something that shouldn’t still be standing. The fudge shops alone produce five tons a day by hand.

But the arch is why most people first come, and the island is why they keep coming back.

A 50-foot limestone window over Lake Huron

Arch Rock towers about 146 feet above the water on Mackinac Island’s eastern shore.

The span stretches roughly 50 feet across at its widest, and the whole thing is made of breccia limestone, a rock type you rarely find anywhere else in the Great Lakes.

You can stand on a platform above and look straight through the opening to the lake below. Or you can walk the shoreline road and look up at it from the base, where the scale of the thing really hits you.

Ancient waves carved it from the inside out

Thousands of years ago, during the Nipissing post-glacial period, Lake Huron sat much higher than it does today.

Waves pounded the limestone cliffs and wore away the softer rock, leaving the harder breccia behind in the shape of an arch. Native Americans long considered it a place of deep spiritual power.

One legend tells of a young woman who leaped from the cliff after her lover never returned from battle. Another says the Master of Life turned the sun red and sent it toward the island, hollowing out the stone.

207 steps up through the trees to the top

The most popular route to Arch Rock starts at the shoreline road and climbs 207 steps through a canopy of trees.

The staircase is steep, but it opens to a viewing platform at the top where the lake spreads out in every direction.

If stairs aren’t your thing, you can bike or walk Arch Rock Road from the island’s interior on a gentler grade. Horse-drawn carriage tours also stop near the formation.

The Milliken Nature Center sits just steps from the overlook with exhibits on how the arch formed.

Horses spooked by cars, so the island banned them

On July 6, 1898, Mackinac Island banned automobiles after horseless carriages frightened the horses that powered the island’s carriage tours. That ban has held ever since.

You get around by walking, biking, or riding in a horse-drawn carriage.

The island’s perimeter road, M-185, is the only state highway in the country where motor vehicles are not allowed. Emergency vehicles and service equipment are the only exceptions.

Everything else moves at the speed of hooves or pedals.

Bike the 8.2-mile loop around the whole island

M-185 wraps 8.2 miles around the shoreline, and the route is mostly flat and paved. At a relaxed pace, you can finish it in about 60 to 90 minutes.

Along the way, you pass Arch Rock, limestone bluffs, quiet beaches, and views of the Mackinac Bridge in the distance. British Landing sits at the halfway point with restrooms and a seasonal snack stand.

Bike rental shops line the downtown area, and beyond the loop, more than 70 miles of trails cut through the forested interior.

It was America’s second national park after Yellowstone

Arch Rock helped inspire the creation of Mackinac National Park in 1875, just three years after Yellowstone.

President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law, and Sen. Thomas W. Ferry, who was born on the island, championed the effort. U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Mackinac pulled double duty as the park’s caretakers.

When the fort closed in 1895, the park transferred to the state and became Michigan’s first state park. Today, Mackinac Island State Park covers about 80 percent of the island.

Sugar Loaf, Skull Cave and a crack you walk through

Arch Rock is not the only formation worth finding.

Sugar Loaf is a 75-foot limestone tower rising straight from the forest floor near the center of the island. Skull Cave is a small, shallow opening that once served as a burial site for the Anishinaabe people.

Devil’s Kitchen sits along the western shore, its blackened walls reflecting the water that pools inside. And Crack in the Island is a natural split in the limestone deep enough to walk through.

The same ancient forces shaped all of them.

Cannons still fire from the fort on the bluff

Fort Mackinac sits on a bluff above the harbor with views stretching across the Straits of Mackinac.

The British built it in 1780 during the American Revolution, and today all 14 historic buildings stand restored and open. Costumed interpreters fire cannons and muskets in daily reenactments from May through October.

In 2026, the fort is part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations with special programming. You walk through rooms where soldiers lived, and the harbor spreads out below you like a painting.

Watch 10,000 pounds of fudge get made by hand

The fudge tradition here goes back to 1887, when the Murdick family opened the island’s first candy shop. Rome Murdick started making fudge on marble slabs in front of customers, turning the process into a show.

Today, more than a dozen fudge shops line the main street, and during peak season, the island produces about 10,000 pounds of fudge by hand every single day. Tourists have been called “fudgies” since the 1960s.

You can stand at the shop windows and watch makers pour hot liquid onto marble and work it into shape.

Horse-drawn carriages have run here since the 1860s

Mackinac Island Carriage Tours is the world’s oldest and largest horse and buggy livery, and narrated public tours last about one hour and 45 minutes.

Carriages have carried visitors around the island since the 1860s, long before the car ban made them the only option. Horses also power the island’s daily work.

Deliveries, garbage pickup and taxi service all run on hooves. During summer months, you can call a horse-drawn taxi around the clock.

The island runs on four legs, not four wheels.

The Lilac Festival kicks off every June

Mackinac Island opens from May through October, and you can only reach it by ferry from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace.

The island covers about 3.8 square miles, small enough to explore in a day but deep enough to fill a longer stay.

Beyond Arch Rock and the forts, you can kayak, ride horses, wander old cemeteries and browse the downtown shops.

The Lilac Festival in June is the island’s biggest annual event, and in recent years, the island has ranked among the top summer destinations in the country.

The arch has outlasted 200 years of predictions

People have predicted Arch Rock’s collapse since the 1800s, but it still stands.

Wind and water keep eroding it slowly, so every visit is a chance to see it before it changes even a little. Victorian tourists hiked to it by moonlight.

Native Americans honored it long before that. Whether you climb the 207 steps or look up from the shoreline road, the view through that ancient limestone window connects you to something much older than anything else on the island.

It costs nothing to visit and sits open to the public year-round as part of Mackinac Island State Park.

Take the Ferry to Mackinac Island, Michigan

You can reach Mackinac Island by ferry from either Mackinaw City or St. Ignace, and the ride takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Ferries run from late April through late October.

More than 80 percent of the island is protected state park land, so most of what you’ll explore is free and open to the public.

Check the official website for current ferry schedules and pricing before you go, since times shift with the season. No cars allowed, so leave yours on the mainland and pack light.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Cars are illegal on this Michigan island — but horses and fudge shops run it just fine
• Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has a root beer waterfall that drops 50 feet into the wild
• How "benevolent paternalism" created then destroyed a Michigan mining town